Ipswich Town column: Joey reflects on successful season as Tractor Boys promoted from League One
The 2022/2023 season. A season where after 23 years, Ipswich Town finally gave their fans a promotion to celebrate and at the fourth attempt, finally got themselves out of League One.
It’s strange in a way, as it’s not really that long ago since Town fell into the third tier of English football with barely a whimper, but at the very same time that era feels a million years ago, seeing how different the club is now to what it was back then.
So let’s look at this season and rejoice on what a marvellous year it has been for Kieran McKenna and his team.
It’s no secret Town were never planning to stay in this division for the four years they had to endure and a football club of this size should never have found itself in this league in the first place. But, as we’ve seen with other big clubs before, it’s not always an easy place to get out of and Town can be very proud of the manner in which they’ve been able to do it.
Yes, it’s the third tier, but I think we’ll look back on this season with immense pride and remember it for many years to come.
The Tractor Boys got their campaign underway with a 1-1 draw to Bolton at Portman Road in a frustrating afternoon, similar to that of the season before, where Town had most of the ball and the chances, without managing to find that elusive goal.
A steady start, but not anything to really write home about as many fans worried whether it was going to be the same old story with Kieran McKenna’s side dominating most of the games they played, without being able to turn one point into three.
But, thankfully, we were quickly put at ease, as Town went onto have a fantastic August, winning their next four games on the trot and sitting pretty in the top two.
September came around and so did the prospect of playing both high-flyers Plymouth Argyle and Sheffield Wednesday away from home, in the space of eight days.
Town would go to Hillsborough and dominate for large periods of the game, but ultimately were left disappointed as a rather dubious 89th minute Michael Smith equaliser was allowed to stand, although many felt the linesman flag should have been raised.
However, that flag (unbelievably) never came and Kieran McKenna’s men, who were still top of the league at this time, made the long trip down to Devon needing to bounce back and show the Sky cameras what they were made of.
Once again, it was a fast start and when Freddie Ladapo had put Town ahead against his former side, many were beginning to believe that perhaps this really is our time. Unfortunately it was another away trip which ended in disappointment, as the Blues fell to their first defeat of the season courtesy of a Morgan Whittaker stunner and goal from Norwich loanee, Bali Mumba. Ouch.
That one hurt as it felt Town were showing fragilities from the years gone by and still not quite able to go and get a big result away at a fellow promotion rival.
That defeat, however, was backed up with three consecutive wins before a shock home defeat at the hands of Lincoln City in mid-October, who would end up being the only team to take maximum points at Portman Road and prove to be a real pain to most, if not all of the top six teams in the division along the way.
So there we were in October and along came a trip to Charlton Atheltic’s The Valley which will sadly be remembered for all of the wrong reasons.
Quite frankly, I don’t want to go there and although we’ve got the job done now, I’m still not quite sure if I’m fully over it? But to throw away a 2-0 lead and then a 4-2 lead with three minutes to go, just felt the most typical Ipswich Town type of thing to ever happen and sadly reignited the fear that this curse that had troubled us for so long, was perhaps still lingering around.
That 4-4 debacle with The Addicks was followed by a hugely frustrating 1-1 draw at home to Cheltenham, as Town continued to huff and puff with the injury list growing larger.
November was filled with FA Cup joy, as The Blues had finally made it to the third round of the competition as a League One club. December saw another busy schedule, but would only see them win two games, losing one and drawing the other three.
As a new year dawned, Ipswich began 2023 sat second in the table, but with a resurgent Sheffield Wednesday continuing to breathe down their necks as they relentlessly picked up points looking like they were never going to lose a game again.
The general consensus around January was that Town needed a striker. Freddie Ladapo had done okay, but it was an area many fans felt needed strengthening. So Mr Ashton got his chequebook out and in came Massimo Luongo, George Hirst, Nathan Broadhead and Harry Clarke. Four signings which would shape the rest of Ipswich Town’s season.
However, these lads got off to a slightly slow start. Massimo was still fighting to get fit, Hirst and Broadhead were adjusting to the system and Harry Clarke was trying to show why he should start over the ever present, Janoi Donacien.
Truth-be-told, the actual month of January on the pitch was largely disappointing. Town dropped points to 10-man Lincoln, conceded a last minute Bali Mumba equaliser at the hands of Plymouth, and then managed to lose a game at Oxford, where due to the fog, nobody could even see what was going on.
It was a worry and Kieran McKenna’s men were well adrift of the automatic promotion places, the attention had turned to perhaps having to ‘do it via the play-offs’.
Sheffield Wednesday had firmly cemented their place in the top two now and came down to Portman Road in February buoyant and full of confidence, in a game which was deemed as a simply ‘must-win’ for The Tractor Boys.
But once again, it was disappointment as Town yet again failed to win, but did manage to claw themselves back from 2-0 down via a piece of magic from January addition Nathan Broadhead.
I’ll be honest, I felt any slim hopes of an automatic promotion place had faded on that day and was genuinely worried we may not even be able to hold onto the play-offs. But how wrong could I be and I’ve never been so happy to be so incorrect about something in my life.
The 2-2 draw with Wednesday was followed up by a romantic 0-0 on Valentine’s Day to the hands of Bristol Rovers. The boos were getting louder and skipper Sam Morsy had come under increasing pressure to ‘sort it out’, as well as his manager Kieran McKenna.
Now, I can proudly say I have never used the words ‘McKenna out’, or did I think removing him in the midst of that bad run was ever a good idea, but I was beginning to question what we had become and worrying this season was going to peter out like so many of them had before.
What happened after that though was truly astonishing. After the nightmare at Bristol Rovers, Kieran McKenna had 15 games left to turn it around and many had accepted that the play-offs may be the only option and that it was going to take an absolute miracle to claw back into any automatic promotion picture.
But boy oh boy, was a miracle provided. Town went onto win their next eight games in a row and had not just got back into the top two, but had even managed to get themselves back to the top of the pile.
The stigma attached to Ipswich ‘not being able to win the big games’ was being abolished, as McKenna’s men had gone away to top six chasing Bolton and Derby on that run and won, without even conceding a goal and all four January signings were properly embedded now.
George Hirst was scoring goals, Nathan Broadhead was providing the magic, Massimo Luongo was running the show and Harry Clarke brought the energy. We looked a proper side now and Mark Ashton and Kieran McKenna had got it absolutely spot on.
It was unbelievable and we had now turned into a force which nobody could deal with. That winning run was halted by an Easter Monday draw at the hands of Cheltenham, which did feel a big blow, considering the manner in which we’d thrown the points away.
That result though was backed up with a 6-0 win at home to Charlton and a 2-1 victory over Port Vale, where Town showed style, resilience and bounce-back-ability, that all the great champions have.
We were starting to believe now as we had hit form at the perfect time and whatever happened, this was going to be some end to the season.
After Port Vale, Town were tasked with going away to an in-form Peterborough and a bouncing Barnsley. Two sides who were right up there with them in terms of the form table and who equally desperately needed the points.
I was nervous and we were all nervous as everyone knew that these two games were going to make or break our season. These were the two fixtures which you felt could define the previous 42 before them.
But again unbelievably, Ipswich Town picked up all six points of those available on their travels. Scoring six goals, three in each game and still not even conceding a goal.
It was silly, it was pandemonium, it was Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich Town.
The season was then all set to be concluded at Portman Road on Saturday, April 29 at home to Exeter. Win and the job was done. We would be promoted.
I’d have taken any result that day, as long as the boys in blue scored more than those in red-and-white.
As I sat in my seat after 32 minutes it was just ridiculous that in a must-win-game to secure promotion and gain us our first bit of success for 23 years, that Ipswich were already 5-0 up, to then go and win 6-0. It was stupid, honestly just silly!
So as we look back now, the only thing that matters most is that this football club is back in the Championship and very much back on the rise.
A fantastic season with highs, lows and so many goals.
Kieran McKenna and his team will take all the plaudits and rightly so, but a special mention to Mark Ashton for I believe, providing the best January transfer window this club has ever had.
A special campaign and although it would’ve been nice to win it, I’ll take my hat off to Plymouth as I think over the course of the season they had slightly more ups than downs and thoroughly deserve to be playing Championship football next season.
A special club, a special group of players, a special manager and a special bunch of people behind the scenes tying it all together.
Ipswich Town had spent 17 years in the Championship prior to their relegation, but I can honestly say I’ve never been so excited for a season than what I am for this next one.
A big thank you to everybody who supports and reads this column and I’m sure you’re all as excited as I am, to see what is next for the mighty Ipswich Town. Up the Town.